Practice-keyboard for key-operated machines.



N. KINNAMAN.

PRACTICE KEYBOARD FOR KEY OPERATED MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.25. I916- Patented Mar, 27, 1917.

Q r U T n n NOEL KINNAMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PRACTICE-KEYBOARD FOR KEY-OPERATED MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

Application filed February 25, 1916. Serial No. 80,403.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, NOEL KINNAMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of 337 West Madison street, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Practice Keyboards for ley-= Operated Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a dummy or practice key board for adding machines and other like machines such as are equipped with a bank of keys by which to manipulate the operating mechanism of the machine, said practice key board being designed for the purpose of enabling a beginner to familiarize himself with the positions of the several keys to an extent to be able to operate the machine without the necessity of securing for this purpose a complete machine.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an extremely simple, economical, strong and durable keyboard for the purposes set forth, which is made of a few simple parts requiring but few manufacturing operations, and one which simulates in its operation the keyboard of the machine, the operation of which is to be taught thereby. The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the parts shown in the drawings and described in the specification, and is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings; 7

igure 1 is a plan view of one form of keyboard embodying my invention with parts broken away to illustrate the construction in different planes.

Fig. 2 is an outer edge elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a detail section illustrating the manner of attaching the key restoring springs to the frame of the keyboard.

Fig. 4 is a detail section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

The keyboard herein illustrated, as one embodiment of my invention, embraces upper and lower members 10, 11, respectively, which are made of any suitable light durable material, such as wood; a plurality of elongated plates or bars 12 applied over the upper face of the upper body member or layer 10; a plate 13 interposed between said body members 10 and 11 and a plurality of keys 14, the shanks 15 of which extend through and have guiding engagement with suitable openings 16, 17 in said elongated plates or bars 12 and the interposed plate 13. The said body members or layers 10 and 11 are provided with a plurality of openings 18, 19, respectively, arranged in alined pairs, said openings being also in alinement with the guide openings 16 and 17' of the upper and intermediate plates 12 and 13 respectively. The openings 18 and 19 in the body members are made sufficiently large to avoid contact of the key shanks therewith. Said shanks and their corresponding guide openings in the plates 12 and 13 are so shaped as to interfit with a non-rotative engagement so as to prevent the shanks from turning about on their axis. As herein shown said shanks are rectangular in cross section to engage rectangular openings in said plates.

Preferably, and as herein shown, the guide openings 16 in the plates or bars 12 are formed on one edge of each bar and open laterally from said edge, the openings of each plate or bar being closed by the unnotched or plain edge of an adjacent bar 12, as more clearly indicated in Fig. 1, so that said plain edge of the latter bar constitutes one side wall of the associated guide openings.

The keys are held in their normal, upwardly projected positions by means of springs 20, which as herein shown, have the form of helical springs that surround the key shanks, preferably near the upper ends thereof. Each spring is shown as attached at one end to the shank and at the other end to the keyboard frame. As herein shown the springs are attached to said shanks 15 by perforating the shanks and extending the lower terminals of the springs therethrough. The upper ends of the springs are formed with eyes 21, which engage over hooks 22 that are preferably formed from narrow tongues of metal that are bent downwardly from the notched portions of the upper plates 12 at the sides of the guide openings or notches 16.

The keys are arranged, in transverse banks from the front end 23 to the rear end 24 of the keyboard. The transverse row of keys at the front end of the keyboard project the shortest distance from the upper face of the keyboard, and the succeeding transverse rows of keys project progressively higher from the board toward the rear end thereof. It will be understood, of course, that the style of keyboard herein shown is illustrative only of one mode of carrying my invention into elfect and is not intended to limit the breadth or scope of the claims hereto appended.

It will be observed that, by reason of the employment of two main or body members 10 and 11 and relatively light gauge sheet metal guide plates 12 and 13, arranged as described, the body of the keyboard is extremely rigid, light, and durable, and that an accurate guiding engagement may be effected between the metal members of the keyboard and the key shanks with a minimum degree of friction. It will also be observed that the various elements of the de vice may be made of inexpensive materials, which requires but few simple manufacturing operations.

In order to limit the depression of the keys I may provide cushioning stops 25 at the lower ends of the openings 19 in the lower member 11 of the keyboard body or frame. Preferably, and as herein shown, the openings 19 of the lower body member are bored entirely through said member and the cushioning stops are formed by a continuous cushioning layer, such as felt, that is applied to the underface of the lower body member. It may be held in place by means of a thin metal plate 26 fixed to the said lower member. The key shanks are provided, preferably with stop pins 27 to limit the upward movement of the pins.

The said plates and blocks constituting the. body of the keyboard may be fastened together in any suitable manner, as by means of screws 28 which extend upwardly through the plate 26 and the members 11, 13 and 10, respectively, as shown in Fig. 2. The upper bars 12 may be attached to the upper body member 10 by means of short screws 29.

While the upper sheet metal lining of the body of the keyboard is shown as made of a number of longitudinal strips notched at their edges to produce the guide openings for the key shanks, it will be understood that said lining may, if desired, be a continuous plate as the intermediate or interleaved plate 13. An advantage of making said upper lining of a plurality of bars is that the keys may be assembled with greater facility, inasmuch as a complete row of keys from front to rear of the board may be assembled on one bar or plate and the springs 20 attached to said bar, after which said assembled rows of keys may be inserted into the opening of the keyboard. Moreover said plates constitute not only-low friction guiding means for the key shanks but also means forstrengthening the relatively thicker body members of the keyboard so as toprevent said body members from splitting.

I claim as my invention:

1. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower perforated body members, top clad and interleaved with thin sheet metal plates provided with guide openings alined with the perforations of said body members, and key shanks surmounted by keys guidingly fitting the openings in said plates at vertically separated points, with yielding means to normally project the keys away from the upper face of the keyboard.

2. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower perforated body members, top clad and interleaved with thin sheet metal plates provided with guide openings alined with the perforations of said body members, and key shanks surmounted by keys guidingly fitting the openings in said plates at vertically separated points, with yielding means to normally project the keys away from the upper face of the keyboard, and yielding stops to limit the depression of said key shanks.

3. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower body members provided with a plurality of rows of alined openings, with an interposed thin metal plate, the upper face of the upper member being metal clad, the intermediate and upper metal plates being provided with guide apertures in line with the openings of the upper and lower members, key shanks extending into said openings and having close guiding engagement with said apertured plates and surmounted by keys, and yielding means to normally hold the. keys projected above the keyboard.

4. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower body members provided with a plurality of rows of alined openings, with an interposed thin metal plate, the upper face of the upper member being metal clad, the intermediate and upper metal plates being provided with guide apertures in line with the openings of the upper and lower members, key shanks extending into said openings and having close guiding engagement with said apertured plates and surmounted by keys, yielding means to normally hold the keys projected above the keyboard, and cushioning stops to limit the depression of the key shanks.

5. A practice keyboardfor key operated machines comprising upper and lower, relatively thick, members of light texture, a thin metal plate between them, a plurality of bars arranged longitudinally over and covering the upper face of the upper member, said bars being each provided at one edge with notches which open laterally to the edge thereof and are closed by the .unnotched edge of an adjacent bar, the said upper and lower body members and the intermediate sheet metal member being provided in line with said notches with alined openings, the openings in the body members being larger than said notches and the openings of the intermediate plate, and a series of keys provided with key shanks smaller than the openings in the body members and guidingly engaging the notches and the openings in the upper and intermediate metal plates, respectively, springs to normally hold the keys projected, and cushioning stops to limit the depression of said key shanks.

6. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower body members provided with a plurality of rows of alined openings, with an interposed thin metal plate, the upper face of theupper member being metal clad, the intermediate and upper metal plates being provided with guide apertures in line with the openings of the upper and lower members, key shanks extending into said openings and having close guiding engagement wlth sald apertured plates and surmounted by keys, yielding means to normally hold the keys pro- .jected above the keyboard, the openings extending entirely through the lower body member, a cushioning layer stretched across the lower face of said lower member and covering the lower ends of the openings therein, and means to fix the cushioning layer in place.

7. A practice keyboard for key actuated machines, comprising a fiat base or frame provided with a plurality of transverse rows of openings, a plurality of transverse rows of spring-controlled keys having shanks which extend into said openings, said base also embracing upper and lower guides to points, with yielding means to normally pro- Ject the keys away from the upper face of the keyboard, the key shanks non-rotatively engaging the guide openings in said plates to prevent rotative displacement of the keys about their axes.

9. A practice keyboard for key operated machines comprising upper and lower perforated body members, top clad and interleaved with thin sheet metal plates provided with guide openings alined with the perforations of said body members, and key shanks surmounted by keys guidingly fitting the openings in said plates at vertically separated points, with yielding means to normally project the keys away from the upper face of the keyboard, yielding stops to limit the depression of said key shanks, and stops carried by said shanks to limit the upward movement of the keys under the action of said yielding means.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aflix my signature in the presence of two witneses, this 18th day of February A. D. 1916.

NOEL KINNAMAN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, IRENE FORREST.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O. 

